In retail grocery stores and supermarkets many of the processed meat and cheese pcakages are hung on peg boards for better display for the customer. In order to provide a hang up feature there are a number of alternatives to consider. Straps or hooks could be used which could be fixed to the finished package in a retail stores, e.g., a strip of semirigid plastic with a hook on one end; or, cut-outs of paper which can be shaped into a cone or a strap to hold a filled bag may be used. Another type of hang up feature consists of punching holes at either end of the bag and reinforcing the hole with metal or plastic eyelets in order to provide a sufficiently strong hanging means. Still another type of feature is a loop or strap sealed to a bag at the time the bag is made. It is this last feature with which this invention is concerned.
In the U.S. Pat. No. 3,207,300 which issued on Sept. 21, 1965 to H. L. Farmer, a labeled package is shown which contains semi-rigid articles with a wrapper of heat-sealable and heat-shrinkable plastics film surrounding the articles and a printed label strip of narrow width heat-sealable and shrinkable plastic film is disposed within the wrapper and extends transversely of the articles with the opposite ends of the strip respectively secured within heat seals. However, the strip shrinks with the wrapping and a loop is not left so that a hang strap is formed. Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide a package with a shrinkable wrapper and a non-shrunk strip or strap which can be used as a hanging feature.
For packaging many food products, especially fresh meats or processed meats it is quite desirable to use a wrapping material which has low oxygen permeability. One such material is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,253 which issued to H. J. Brax it al on June 26, l973. In the Brax et al patent a packaging film having a first layer of a crosslinked ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer is described which is extrusion coated with a layer of a vinylidene chloride copolymer which in turn is extrusion coated with another layer of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer. In using a bag which is made from film according to the Brax et al patent if the strap is sealed to the non-crosslinked vinyl acetate polymer layer, it was found that grease would attack the strap seals and the seal would fail at either instantly or either a short time after a filled bag was hung by the strap. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide a hang bag which is useable with a grease containing product and which will hang at retail display for an extended period of time.
The foregoing and other objects will be better understood with reference to the summary of the invention, the drawings, and the detailed description which follows.